About
Teen Health Research is mission-driven. We want to modernize sex education by offering online, evidence-based programs to improve adolescent sexual and relationship health.
Dr. Laura Widman
Founder & CEO
Dr. Laura Widman (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor of Psychology at North Carolina State University. She has over 15 years of experience as an adolescent sexuality researcher, sex educator, and digital health intervention developer. Her goal is to help adolescents and families communicate more openly about sexuality to foster happier, healthier relationships among teens and reduce sexual risks like unplanned pregnancy, HIV, and other STDs. Dr. Widman has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and her work has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, Today, Huffington Post, and TIME Magazine. She is also an author on the best-selling undergraduate textbook in human sexuality, Our Sexuality.
Meet the Team
Dr. Jeni Burnette
Consultant
Dr. Jeni Burnette is a professor in the department of Psychology at North Carolina State University. She has 20 years of experience as a mindset researcher. Dr. Burnette’s research is currently focused on understanding how to best implement growth mindset interventions and foster growth mindset cultures. She has contributed to more than 55 peer-reviewed publications and her work has been funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the Marchionne Foundation. Her work has been featured in national media outlets such as The New York Times and the Huffington Post.
Dr. Bianca Allison MD MPH (she/her) is a board-certified primary care pediatrician and health services researcher. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and serves as a primary care physician for a diverse patient population from 0-25 years old, with a special focus on adolescents and young adults. Dr. Allison has received funding, presented, and published on patient-centered and reproductive justice-oriented methods of promoting risk reduction in adolescent sexual and reproductive health. She is currently developing multi-level health system interventions to promote greater self-efficacy and reproductive autonomy for young people in primary care.
Dr. Bianca Allison
Consultant
Dr. Denis Fourches
Interim CTO
Dr. Denis Fourches has a PhD in cheminformatics from Strasbourg University, France. He is serving in an interim role as the chief technology officer to assist in developing out our technology infrastructure.